From Da' Train Guy

[chiloquinruss]

Latest project, first time trying to do real miniatures. The man door for the building is 1 1/2 inches tall.

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/r/s_61092286.jpg

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/r/s_41892286.jpg

3mm Sentra, Beckwith 1/16th tapered ball nose, model of Chama Oil House, Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, Chama , New Mexico. Windows were not done on the bot, they are laser cuts. Russ

[gc3]

Very nicely done!!!

[Rick W]

Nice job Russ,

Was the whole thing made of sintra or some made of plywood,mdf??? Looks like you have a really big shop there Mr.

Rik

[David Iannone]

Awsome job Russ!

[chiloquinruss]

Yes its all sentra. The best part of sentra other than how great it machines is that you can use pvc cement to glue it together! Model plastic cement cost a lot and a big can of pvc pipe cement goes a loooooong way!

Thanks for the nice comments. You folks all do such terrific stuff, I just make big toys. :D The shop is the fullfillment of a life long dream. It is a 40x50 shop, located on the river, in rural southern Oregon, and I have a ShopBot, what's not to like! :D Russ

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/r/s_77224877.jpg

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/r/s_29156463.jpg

[myxpykalix]

Russ,
What i don't get is why you make such small models in such a big shop!:eek:
Another Russ-ter-piece!:D

[joe]

Good on ya Russ!

Love that shop too.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[Brady Watson]

Nice shop, Russ! - and nice models!

Got any shots of a whole train layout that you did? I've still got my Lionel trains packed up from when I was a kid. They're from the 40s...One of these days I'll set them up to run around the Christmas tree - although a HUGE platform would be really fun if I had time for that!

-B

[Rick W]

Hello hello hello, pass me a Clamp clamp clamp. The shop is large enough to have an echo. Nice shop, how do you heat that?:eek:

Rik

[chiloquinruss]

"how do you heat that?" With a lot of propane! :eek: I'm having a wood stove built and installed so that should help a lot. I find I'm getting to be temperature tolerant! If I can't see my breath then its ok to work in the shop! LOL Seriously, if I'm working on a big project then the breath test works otherwise its chilly out der'!

I've seen lots of pix of your shops and I have visited quite a few, so I appreciate the comments coming from you folks, thank you very much.

Before retireing and having my dream shop I used to have a side business as a commercial layout builder. We used to build em' the ol' fashioned way with jig saws, skilsaws, old fashioned screwdrivers, etc,. The layout I'm helping build with a friend is nothing like the old days! It's about 75% done in Aspire and on da' bot! Russ

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/88727829.jpg http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/29717881.jpg

Please excuse the poor pix but it shows how the braces work for the second deck.

http://hobby-tronics.lenzus.com/content/21775739/r/s_65958058.jpg

[myxpykalix]

"how do you heat that?" With a lot of propane!
Russ,
you should look into doing some solar hot air heaters for your shop. At first i thought it was alot of work for little gain but after i built my first solar hot air heater and set it out in the sun, hooked up a fan within 20 minutes it was pumping out 180-190 degree hot air in the middle of winter.

I don't think it wold heat that big shop up to 80 degrees but what it would do is supply enough heat to keep you from having to use as much propane. If you could cut your consumption by 50% with FREE heat, that's money in your pocket. And i think it would heat it enough to pass your "Breathalyzer" test:eek:

[beacon14]

Awesome shop, looks like a little piece of heaven.

Another spacious, well-equipped, well-laid out workspace - without any sawdust. Sigh.

You got paid to work on model railroads? That's not fair!

[chiloquinruss]

I remember following that solar heat thread, I will go back and reread it again, thanks.

"without any sawdust" you do realize these are all 'staged' photos don't you! :) Actually I do try to keep it clean, The majority of the bigger stuff gets sucked up in the Woodmaster DC and at 4500 cfm it does a good job.

And yes I got paid to play trains, ain't it a grit! :)

Thanks again folks for the comments. Russ

[chiloquinruss]

OK I need some volunteers to help empty some beer cans! :) The box is built, the glass will be here on Tuesday, I have the hi-temo paint, all I need is some 'guzzlin' help! :) Russ

[billp]

Russ,
I think you need to host a Beer Camp in your shop.....

[bill.young]

Beer camp! You're a genius Palumbo!

[myxpykalix]

Russ,
Not to discourage you from having a "Beer Party" but you can make your columns from aluminum downspouts which will keep you from having to drink all that beer...(SORRY GUYS!).
Youtube videos were very helpful to me:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=solar+hot+air+heaters&oq=solar+hot+air+heaters&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=2810l8989l0l9991l21l21l0l2l2l0l212l2213l8.1 0.1l19l0

http://www.builditsolar.com/index.htm GREAT RESOURCE
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

Aluminum Downspout Hot Air Solar Collector Construction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a62mZMIMpc0&feature=g-all&context=G2d2deb7FAAAAAAAAJAA

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SimplySolar/ GREAT RESOURCE

If you need more pictures or help email me direct...:eek:

For the glass I just went down to my local Habitat for Humanity and bought a aluminum storm door for $15.00. I use a hi heat paint for barbecues i found there for 2.00/can and i was given the styrofoam. The cans were mostly pop cans since thatsd what i drink and i went around to my tennants and asked them to put their beer/pop cans aside for me. I used around 120(?) so with all the materials i think i have less then $50 in it. But if you go to some of the links you will see guys who have made them for shops as big or bigger then yours.

[genek]

Mr, wood would it not have been cheaper, and faster to use 2 inch hvac pipe you can get it in alm.. I think that is what i would have done. Also. If it was me i would put a flat peice of metal twisted into a spiro... In each.. This will cause the air to spin and make better contact with the walls of the can or pipe. If you have ever seen a comerical gas deep fryer or a gas furnace you will see the spiro i am talking about... I like the concepet of the geo heater.. I might also put a mirror underneath the cans.. Or arrange it in a half moon with mirrors.. Something to think about...

[myxpykalix]

Eugene,
I like the idea of a twisted flat piece inside the downspout! With the can design i posted a hole is cut in the bottom and top leaving some of the rim to slow the flow down long enough to absorb some of the heat from the cans, then they were siliconed together and painted with the spray inside the insulated box.
The idea is that the glass warms the air behind it and the cans, then the air passing thru the cans absorbs the heat.

Your problem with the idea of the mirror or concave shape is that it would not get enough sunlight to bounce to the bottom side of the cans plus you would have to have some mechanism to have it follow the sun for maximum enery absorbtion. With everything painted black it absorbs the heat instead of a mirror bouncing the reflection.
However your theory is good if you wanted to run say a single pipe through the trough for heating water. I would encourage you to go to some of those links as you will see you are on the right track in your thinking!:)

[chiloquinruss]

"Not to discourage you from having a "Beer Party" Jack, what are you saying it took a while to convince my wife that the heat system would ONLY work with beer cans! :) Russ

[myxpykalix]

Russ,
You need to look at the "structure" of that sentence...
I said:
"Not to discourage you from having a "Beer Party" but"
I didn't say:

"to discourage you from NOT having a "Beer Party" but"

So my lack of proper sentence structure should not be interpreted as discouraging a beer party, for sure!:rolleyes:

If you go with the downspout idea you can always tell the wife, when she wants to know where all the cans are you tell her they are inside the downspouts! I have seen that design done, so it does work. Plus I doubt she will bother to look.
I do like eugene's idea of the twisted aluminum inside the downspout idea.
But one thing to keep in mind in case you haven' figured this out....the solar heater only works during the day:eek:

[chiloquinruss]

"eugene's idea of the twisted aluminum inside the downspout " Actually that method is used a lot in our hobby of live steam locomotives. What makes a steamer work good is a lot of surface area inside the boiler. By adding twisted flat stock inside the tubes you incrrease the surface area of the boiler thereby retaining more heat and thus creating more steam. Most of our boilers are so short that a lot of the heat goes up the stack. The twisted pieces add some to the backpressure so that helps as well.

Only heating during daylight hours is OK. I am retired and live in rural Oregon, I get up sometime after the sun comes up and am in bed before it gets really dark outside! :) :) Russ

[Brady Watson]

Not to discourage anyone from having a beer or gutter party...but...

This test (http://www.builditsolar.com/Experimental/AirColTesting/Index.htm) shows the screen version is the easiest to build & most efficient

-B

[michael_schwartz]

what else can be made with beer cans then? :D

[myxpykalix]

Beer bellies.....:d

[chiloquinruss]

Oh good, at last something I'm qualitifed for! BEER BELLIES :) Russ

[gundog]

Did someone mention drinking beer? I have one good hand right now I am up for consuming some beer.:p

Nice shop Russ add a loafing shed on each side and that is pretty much my dream building. I have been looking for a place just outside of town to build a nice shop like that but so far no luck.

I like your model building pretty cool.

Mike

[backyard_cnc]

Russ,

Very nice work, are you building a layout in O scale? 3 rail? I hope to have a small layout in the workshop loft at some point but mostly I just seem to collect parts and pieces and hope to one day actually lay the track and run some trains..................too many projects for just one man I may need an assistant or 3 :-) I have attached several pics of O scale bridges I have cut on the shopbot. Haven't tried an actual building yet but your picture is inspirational for sure!

gerald

[gene]

I have a lot of "n" scale that my grandfather and i purchased at a flea market in Pittsburg penn. when i was a kid. there still in the origional boxes and i can remember the man we ( he) purchased them from telling us that he got them with S & H green stamps . man that was a long time ago....he used to collect the old metal lionel trains that had the coal tenders and metal cars and even cabooses. maybe one day i could build a display for the wall in my shop office.

[myxpykalix]

Gene you never know, you may have your retirement sitting in those boxes:D